From the 18th century, the original Bushmen inhabitants of the region were gradually pushed into the central Kalahari by the progressive expansions of Tswana, Ndebele and finally the Afrikaner. The British made Botswana a protectorate in 1885 (calling it Bechuanaland) in order to keep it from German expansion in Namibia and to keep open the north-south trade route. The protectorate was barely developed during the British administration and remained very poor right up to independence in 1966. A year after independence, diamonds were discovered and the country has developed rapidly since then.